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Special Edition Guiding Light GUIDING LIGHT May 2020 May 2020 SPECIAL EDITION TORONTO BUDDHIST CHURCH a Jodo Shinshu Temple 1011 Sheppard Ave West Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3H 2T7 (416) 534-4302 www.tbc.on.ca PAGE 1 LET’S MAKE THE TOUGH TIMES BETTER Years 2019 and 2020 will probably be the toughest years many of us will have ever experienced. COVID19! Whoever would have thought that a virus could shut down the world and wreak havoc on the well being of everyone you know: extreme respiratory illness, deaths, lack of equipment and supplies, shutdown of industries causing unemployment and lack of funds for the bare essentials. Governments are digging deep for funding rescues for the industries and individuals who this virus has affected, unbelievable. And would we ever have dreamt that the phrases ‘wash your hands often, don’t touch your face and stay home’ would become a large part of our lives. We are putting out these special editions of our newsletter to help give those who will read this newsletter a sense of hope and share what is helping them cope. It is also a way for us to reach out to our TBC members, to show that everything is not all gloom and doom and to show there are bright things happening in peoples lives by bringing you pictures of how families are coping or uplifting passages that are helping our members and their families. It will be a place to publish reflections of how the Dharma is helping. We are asking all members of the Buddhist Temples of Canada and their congregation who may be reading the newsletter to contribute and share their experiences for future editions. This is our first edition, we are hoping that you will share your thoughts and that we will receive enough material to publish monthly until we are able to resume our ‘normal’ lives. Please pass on the newsletter to anyone you feel will enjoy a bit of brightness. The newsletter will also be posted on the Toronto Buddhist Church website tbc.on.ca under ‘Guiding Light Newsletter’. Any suggestions to improve the newsletter are welcome. Please send your articles and suggestions to [email protected]. Articles should be in word format. Please send pictures for your article separately. LET’S START THIS READ OFF WITH SOMETHING FAMILIAR AND FUN A RENDITION OF THE SONG ‘SUKIYAKI’. COPY AND PASTE OR TYPE THE LINK BELOW INTO THE ADDRESS BAR OF YOUR BROWSER. IT WILL BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE AND MAYBE EVEN MAKE YOU SING! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1N8okX4gZ4 SPRING HAS SPRUNG! UNFORTUATELY WE CAN’T BE THERE RIGHT NOW BUT I HOPE THESE IMAGES SENT IN BY AN ISSHIN MEMBER, IZUMI SAKAMOTO AND HER SISTER KAORU WILL BRING YOU SOME JOY University of Toronto Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre Musashi-Kyuryo Nat’l Gov. Park GUIDING LIGHT May 2020 For all the workers in the world who are putting their “It is saddening that so many jobs first and their lives second during the Covid 19 people, both young and old, men pandemic. WE ALL THANK YOU! and women, have died this year The ultimate measure of a person is not where they and last. But the Tathagata stand in a moment of comfort and convenience but where taught the truth of life’s they stand in times of challenge and controversy. impermanence for us fully, so you must not be distressed by it. Dr. Martin Luther King (1929-1968) I, for my own part, attach no significance to the From Dana’s “Way of Life” condition, good or bad, of persons in their final moment. People in whom shinjin is determined do June’s Morning Smile! not doubt, and so abide among the truly settled. For this reason their end also—even for those ignorant Bougainvillea, Amaryllis, Begonia, Oxalis and foolish and lacking in wisdom—is a happy one. You have been explaining to people that one attains birth through the Tathagata’s working; it is in no way otherwise. What I have been saying to all of you for many years past has not changed. Simply achieve your birth, firmly avoiding all scholarly debate. I recall hearing the late Master Honen say, “Persons of the Pure Land tradition attain birth in the Pure Land by becoming their foolish selves.” Moreover, I remember him smile and say, as he watched humble people of no intellectual pretensions coming to visit him, “Without doubt their birth is settled.” And I heard him say after a June Asano, Member, Toronto Buddhist Church visit by a man brilliant in letters and debating. “I really wonder about his birth.” To this day these A gate in the garden that surrounds Kinkaku-ji things come to mind. (Golden Pavilion) Each of you should attain your birth without being misled by people and without faltering in shinjin. However, the practicer in whom shinjin has not become settled witll contine to drift, even without being misled by anyone, for he does not abide among the truly settled.” Respectfully, Bun’o (1260), 11th month 13th day Letter from Zenshin to Joshin-bo This is a letter written by Shinran (pen name Zenshin) at a time of famine and an epidemic. It is Letter 6 from Lamp for the Latter Ages. Submitted by Pauline Knude, Member of the Toronto Buddhist Church Photographer Isshin Daiko Member Sandy Usami PAGE 3 GUIDING LIGHT May 2020 Lean on Me! Under these trying times of the Coronavirus, pain and agony through isolation and separation from family and friends, anxieties and fear of the unknown of this global pandemic have become a common experience for many of us, if not all. There are those who have conveyed their empathy for others who have contacted this dread disease and sadness for those who have died from Covid 19; there are the essential workers and caregivers who have committed themselves to provide for the well-being of others. And, as we reflect on this novel virus and the dreaded disease, questions abound. What is the cause of this - is it Circumstantial or Karmic? When will this ever end? Will we ever experience such a situation again in our lifetime? Will there be enough to sustain us? What about the education of our children? The list goes on and on. This life of mine had undergone a previous traumatic experience of the WW II Japanese displacement from the Westcoast to Southern Alberta. At the age of six having been separated from my family because of the lack of accommodation in the farmer's house, I was placed in my grandparent's home on the arrival in Lethbridge. I found it difficult to accept despite the fact they were my loving grandparents. I find this present situation equally devastating. Will there be similar experiences? Who is to know? How true it is! Like many of you I have had this new experience of having to be two metres from my grandson when speaking to him, queueing-up a similar distance behind the next shopper at the local store and self-isolating myself in my home. How do I fill this void? How do I fill this time? While trying to find the answers, I recalled the Homages, the passage that we repeat at our services. The first line reads, "Hard it is to be born into human life; now we are living it." For us humans bounded with self-inflicted tendencies, we are indeed living in that moment. We are living it now. Of the present, there is a Japanese phrase that expresses my feelings. It is "Shikata ga nai or Shou ga nai". This is how it is. How true it is! We are living it. However, in accepting this feeling, I still look for means to relieve the agony of not being able to be with my loved ones? Seeking comfort, I began to look for an outlet, perhaps to escape (not from a literal sense) and to find purposeful diversions. And, with the passing of time while reading the newspaper and listening to commentaries on TV, I heard about the death of Bill Withers, an African American musician and band leader who wrote the song "Lean on Me". I had heard his song many times over and it struck a bell with me. I'd like to share the first four verses (in entirety, there are eight verses) with you: "Sometimes in our lives we all have pain, we all have sorrow But if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow. Lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on for it won't be long, til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on. Please swallow your pride if I have things you need to borrow For no one can fill those of your needs that you won't let show. You just call on me brother when you need a hand, we all need someone to lean on I just might have a problem that you’ll understand we all need someone to lean on.” Continued on page 5 PAGE 4 GUIDING LIGHT May 2020 The Joy of Chanting By Dennis Madokoro “Chant the Dharma like a Lion’s Roar, because…You only get out of Life what you put into it.” In these self-isolating days of Covid 19, we need to chant like a Lion’s roar. Nido to nai jinsei dakara So, like me, you had been listening to the chanting in the days when we went to service and wondering tsuyugusa no tsuyunimo “Wow, when will it end, or I wish I knew what they Meguriai no fushigi wo omoi meant.
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